Korean Journal of Medicine  2008;74(6):680-684

A case of solitary rectal recurrence of gastric cancer.

Min Ho KANG 1 ; Bae Whan KIM ; Seoung Wook YUN ; Soon IL LEE ; Jeong Eun SHIN ; Hwan NAM GOONG ; Won Ae LEE

Affiliations

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Keywords

Gastric cancer; Rectal recurrence; Linitis plastica

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

The present research was conducted through the research fund of Dankook University in 2006. Rectal recurrence of gastric cancer is uncommon. A few cases have been reported, with the majority of them associated with peritoneal recurrence. A 71-year-old man visited our hospital complaining of bowel habit changes and fecal incontinence. He had undergone radical subtotal gastrectomy and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer 9 years earlier. Colonoscopy showed a rigidly constricted and erythematous rectum. Abdominopelvic CT showed diffuse rectal wall thickening with enhancement. PET-CT showed a hot uptake in the corresponding area on abdominopelvic CT scan, with no evidence of distant metastasis. We performed transanal full thickness biopsy and confirmed a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma pathologically similar to the former gastric cancer. The patient was diagnosed with solitary rectal recurrence simulating linitis plastica, without gastric remnant recurrence. We report this case with a review of the literature.